There may be no more derivative industry than Hollywood -- see "Rocky" movies 1 through 6 or any of hundreds, if not thousands, of formulaic bromance/road trip/gross out/superhero/improbable romance/triumphant underdog movies all built on a single, once-successful theme.

A close second in the been-there, seen-that category has to be the political advertising business, where it is the rare non-cookie-cutter spot that manages to cut through the clutter. Not that attention always translates to success; the infamous "Demon Sheep" ad produced for U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina in California in 2010 drew hundreds of thousands of viewers and still has people scratching their heads and debating the merits.

The one thing it didn't do was help Fiorina defeat incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer. (Though, in fairness, it should be noted the ad was aimed at Fiorina's GOP primary rival, Tom Campbell, and she did manage to best him for the Republican nomination before losing badly in the fall.) Still, is it the rare political spot that is laugh-out-loud funny and, better, emulates Hollywood's zombie fixation, just as the genre appears about ready to jump the, uh, dead shark.

The spot is aimed at San Diego mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher by a group calling itself Zombies for Responsible Government. The man behind the ad is Wayne Johnson, a longtime conservative activist, who balked at the description "low-budget."

"I don't want to say anything that will hurt me with my next client," Johnson said with a laugh before allowing as how the ad, filmed in a park outside Sacramento, "was a not a terribly expensive spot." (The biggest costs were doubtless for makeup and shredded wardrobe.) The 45-second spot features zombies in pirouette -- how often do those words show up describing a political ad? -- and accuses Fletcher of serial flip-flops.

Fletcher, who is the front-runner in the mayoral contest, has been targeted by opponents for his serial identities as a Republican, independent and, now, Democrat, though the attacks seem to have gained little traction. If anything, polls suggest, Fletcher's polyglot background may be helping him in the campaign.

The vote to replace former Democratic Mayor Bob Filner, who resigned in a sexual harassment scandal, is Nov. 19. If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff will be held on a date still to be determined.

From the congressional halls to the Jersey shore, here's a look at the best photos surrounding the year's political discourse in 2013. Read more: Debate over the Affordable Care Act. Timeline: Politics in 2013.

SAN DIEGO -- Ex-Mayor Bob Filner will lose about $1,704 a year in pension payments if the judge who sentences him on charges of mistreating women accepts a pension reduction clause in his plea bargain with prosecutors, according to figures released Tuesday by the San Diego pension board.

Promising to press investigations into what went wrong, congressional Republicans on Sunday said that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should leave over the website problems that have crippled the rollout of the Affordable Care Act.

WASHINGTON — California Rep. Jeff Denham is the first House Republican to join Democrats in co-sponsoring a broad immigration overhaul bill that would provide a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the country illegally.

In a speech that stirred political controversy in two countries, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress on Tuesday that negotiations underway between Iran and the United States would "all but guarantee" that Tehran gets nuclear weapons to the detriment of the entire world.